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Obituaries 12-11-2009

William R. Sullivan died peacefully at home on December 2 surrounded by his family and closest friend, Ron Stiriti, after losing his courageous battle with lung cancer. He was 53 years old.

A graduate of Worcester State College, he received his post graduate degree at The University of Massachusetts, Boston. He was a teacher at Medford High School and Chelsea High School and also taught at Perkins School for the Blind. He was a world traveler and enjoyed summers on Cape Cod.

He was the beloved son of Alice (Russell) Sullivan and the late Peter F. Sullivan; the brother of Maureen (Sullivan) Baldino, and her husband, Bill, of Auburn, Peter Sullivan, and his wife, Mary, of Worcester, Kathy (Sullivan) Bylund of Auburn and Rosemary (Sullivan) Sears and her husband, Tom, of Northborough. He was a devoted uncle of eight nieces and nephews and one great niece. He loved his family and cherished his friends. He will be missed by all those who knew him.

Special thanks to Dr. David Kwiatkowski, Pam Calarese and the staff of the Thoracic Oncology department at Dana Farber as well as Partners Hospice for their compassion and kindness to Bill throughout his battle. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 12, at noon at the Eliot Church, 474 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02458. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in honor of Bill to Perkins School for the Blind, 175 North Beacon St., Watertown, MA 02472 www.perkins.org or Partners Hospice, 231 Winter St., Waltham, MA 02451.

Robert L. Hightower Jr.

Chelsea resident

Robert L. Hightower Jr, of Chelsea died on December 7.

He was the devoted father of Robert III and Calinda Goglia, both of Chelsea, and Dacia Gotimer of Lynn; former husband of Carolyn McKinley of Chelsea, Brenda Lindsey of Las Vegas, Patricia Moreno of Chelsea and Shirley Abounaja of Revere. He is also survived by eight loving grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Visiting hours in the Ruggiero Mazzarella Memorial Home 971 Saratoga Street (Orient Heights) East Boston will be today,Thursday, December 10 from 4 to 8 p.m. A Celebration of his life will begin 7:30 p.m. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. For more information or to send an online condolence, please visit: www.ruggieromh.com

William Delaney

John Hancock retiree

William J. “Bill” Delaney of Brooksby Village, Peabody, went home to be with the Lord on December 7. He was 79 years old.

He was born in Chelsea on October 24, 1930, the son of the late M. Mildred (Pinkston) Delaney and the late William H. Delaney. He was a graduate of Chelsea High School, Class of 1948 and lived in Malden before moving to Symphony Road in West Peabody in 1962.

Mr. Delaney was associated with the home office of the John Hancock Life Insurance Company in Boston for more than 35 years as manager of the Production Control Division. He later became a Systems Manager of Data Processing until his retirement in 1984.

Following his retirement, he attended some courses at the Gordon Cornwell Theological Seminary and in February of 1985 became the Minister of Visitation at the West Congregational Church in Peabody. Each month, Mr. Delaney conducted worship services a the Rosewood, Pilgrim House and the Rainbow Nursing Homes in Peabody, at the Radius Healthcare at Danvers and Sunrise Assisted Living at Gardner Park in Peabody. He did this until April of 2008 when he had to cancel his visits due to illness. He served as Minister of Visitation for West Church from 1985 until his retirement in 2008, as the church choir director since 1990 and chairman of the Boston Center for the Billy Graham Telephone Ministry from 1987 to 2002.

He was a member of the John Hancock Retirees Association and enjoyed music, traveling and being involved with people. Since 1985, he enjoyed his annual vacations at the Word of Life Bible Resort in Florida and at Willowbank, a Christian resort in Bermuda.

The husband of the late Pauline E. (Peach) Delaney, he was the devoted father of Glen and his wife, Nancy, Donald, Paul and Robert and his wife, Barbara Delaney, William H. Delaney and Denise and her husband, Francis Coakley. He was the grandfather of Amy Armfield, Lisa LaRiviere, Stacy Flynn, Katherine, Lauren and Justin Delaney, Heather Klausmeyer and Christy and Alex Rocklein and great grandfather of Hunter LaRiviere, Sean Flynn, Kendall La Riviere, Colton Klausmeyer and Wyatt Klausmeyer.

A Funeral Service and celebration of his life will be held at the West Congregational Church, 27 Johnson St., Peabody at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, December 11. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. Visiting hours are today, Thursday, from 2:30 until 4:30 and 7 until 9 p.m. at the Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home at the 82 Lynn St., Peabody facility. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the West Congregational Church Memorial Fund, 27 Johnson St., West Peabody, MA 01960.

Diana Weiss

Chelsea resident

Diana (Deutsch) Weiss of Chelsea, formerly of North Bellmore, NY died on December 3.

She was the beloved wife of the late Nathan Weiss; devoted mother of Phil Weiss and his wife, Nomi Davidson, Seth Weiss and his wife, June Goldstein, all of Somerville and the late Ann Sara Weiss and her surviving husband, Len Freedman, of Rochester, NY; loving grandmother of Alan, Peter and Michael Freedman, Ari, Dara, Mollie and Mikki Freedman-Weiss, Isaiah and Sam Davidson-Weiss, Basha and Sara Goldstein-Weiss; great-grandmother of Jake and Leah; dear sister of Elsie Applebaum, Ruthie Gertz, Arthur Deutsch and the late Louis Deutsch and Esther Bloom.

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to the Levine Chapel, Brookline. Burial was at the B’nai Brith of Somerville Cemetery, Peabody. Shiva observance will be held through today, Thursday, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Congregation B’nai Brith of Somerville, 201 Central St., Somerville, MA 02145. Remembrances may be made to Project Aliyah of Congregation B’nai Brith.